Jewish New York, Part III: Sweatshops, Settlement Houses, Secularism, and Socialism

The mass migration from the shtetls of Eastern Europe to the slums of New York uprooted centuries-old patterns of Jewish life, so it's only natural that Jewish culture also underwent a massive shift. As young Jews left the tight-knit communities of the shtetls behind for the great big world of the cities, Orthodox Judaism faded away and secular Yiddish culture blossomed. As Jews confronted the harsh realities of industrial capitalism in New York, socialism replaced religion as the great hope to end the suffering of the Jewish people. In this episode, I'll explore the vibrant cultural, political, and intellectual life of the Lower East Side as it became the center of America's socialist movement. I'll take you into the shoes of the garment workers, often teenage girls who didn't speak a word of English, as they put this theory into practice and stood up for their dignity as working women.